Volunteers > What they do and how to become one

:: NEWS ::  YJS volunteer Carol Hall (second from right, below) beat dozens of nominations and scooped the 'Make a Difference' award at the 2012 Selby District Volunteer Awards. At the award ceremony on 26th October 2012, Carol said: "When they said my name I was very shocked and very humbled to say the least. I work with young people who have been involved in the criminal justice system and this is my fourth year with the Youth Justice Service. I love my work and love the outlook young people of today have on life, so this is just excellent to receive this award and I really am over the moon."

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What do volunteers do?
There are a wide range of opportunities within the North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service (YJS) for volunteers to become involved and gain experience and understanding of the work carried out by the YJS.

North Yorkshire YJS has approximately 60 volunteers across the county – about 30 in the western part which includes Harrogate, Skipton and Northallerton and 30 in the east part which includes Scarborough and Selby.

We are always interested in hearing from new volunteers and understand that people volunteer for a wide variety of reasons ranging from a general interest in helping young people to a need to build up work experience for new career possibilities.

Currently North Yorkshire YJS uses volunteers in four roles:

• Referral Panel Members who sit on community panels which meet with young people, their parents and sometimes their victims to agree a contract to repair harm that has been caused and prevent further offending.
   

• Appropriate Adults who attend police stations to assist young people who have been arrested and whose parents are unable to attend.
   

• Reparation supervisors who supervise one or more young people engaged in unpaid community work.
   

• Mentors who support young people on a weekly one-to-one basis over the longer term to help their motivation and engagement.

Volunteers give what ever time they have available depending on their own family or work commitments and the YJS offers a flexible approach to this as well as comprehensive training programmes and quality support and supervision.

If you feel you can relate to young people and have the time and enthusiasm to make a difference, please contact for further information or an application pack:

Harrogate, Craven, Richmondshire and Hambleton areas –
Paul Whalley, Volunteer Co-ordinator based in Harrogate, on 0776 483 8829 or by e-mail to paul.whalley@northyorks.gov.uk

For Scarborough and Whitby, Ryedale and Selby areas –
Ed Horwood, Volunteer Co-ordinator based in Scarborough, on 01609 536293 or by e-mail to ed.horwood@northyorks.gov.uk